The Color of Orange
by DaifukuBun
Summary: "It is at that precise moment that Shinji learns two things. One, lampposts are really, really weird, because they are in the middle of the walkway where it is most inconvenient. Two, the sound that a human skull makes when it slams into a lamppost at remarkable speed is absolutely and undeniably cringe-worthy."
1. Their Duty

_**When the season is spinning, spinning...**_

O

Lampposts are a strange thing to have planted in the middle of the street, Shinji decides that day. It's not that they're doing anything wrong by being where they are, standing rigid and tall with their shining black paint and buzzing flock of insects. He actually thinks they're doing a service, illuminating streets and all. However, despite their aesthetic, it is not what they are destined to represent on a day like this.

This afternoon is as indecisive as it is nice. As the breeze is biting, his hands do not feel comfortable when free from the confines of his sleeves – yet, the sun's rays beat down on his skin, so they don't quite feel at home in his pockets, either. In the end, he settles on picking loose balls of fabric off the front of his shirt. He's well aware that this looks a little odd as he toddles along the pavement, but today is, in fact, one of seldom days in which he cannot bring himself to care. It's hard to catch a person such as Shinji being apathetic as to what people are thinking of him, but while he stares below at his shoelaces swinging forward and back, he chalks it up to be a fault of the quirky weather.

It is widely known as difficult to focus on a single, unfamiliar sound when immersed in the noise of several others. This is why, when in a cloud of hurried footsteps, Shinji does not expect a swift gust of wind on his left to ruffle him quite so thoroughly. He halts the ministrations to his shirt, and in sudden shock, his head snaps upward. His eyes are first assaulted by the overwhelming rays of the sun, before they adjust and he finally registers the clustered crowd he is currently immersed in. Immediately his fingers grip each other out of expectant turmoil, and while he wishes that he had kept staring at them, toying with the loose threads of his shirt, as well as the sandy concrete below his feet, he can't help but be distracted at the sight of an utterly amusing, floundering stranger amidst a crowd of equally buzzing people.

This stranger is flighty in everything he does. He's lanky, even in comparison to the shiny black lamppost he is currently standing next to, and he appears to do a sort of tip-toe gesture in order to avoid bumping hips with anyone walking by. If Shinji can say one thing, it's that he's, well, weirdly graceful. That is, not quite graceful within the concept that is beauty, but rather the sort of odd, almost _creepy _graceful one would get from staring into a tank full of dying jellyfish.

Shinji's fingers tie knots with each other as he blinks and watches this stranger bumble around. For a moment he thinks it's odd that they're not moving with the crowd, but then he remembers that he's not moving, either, and as usual he feels a little sheepish. He looks down at the ground once more in preparation to continue his commute home, before he blinks at the glare of laminated card-stock coupled with the startling fashion statement of messy white hair.

"Eh, huh..." he mumbles, peering down at the card that is staring back up at him from the ground. "Hm."

_What a weird looking person, _he thinks, easing downward to grab and flick the card in between his index and middle finger.

Shinji then stands, and he stares at the card uselessly for approximately 20 seconds. Then, for another 5 seconds, the gears of his mind are at work. _Hm._

He looks up at the stranger once again, and indeed, the resemblance between him and the face on the card was uncanny. White, messy hair being tossed around by the breeze. It would have been hard to mistake it. This also explains the lanky guy's tendency to dance around people and stare feverishly at the ground.

Shinji creeps forward, still enveloped in his uncomfortable cocoon of ornery crowd-goers. The card is still held gingerly in between his two fingers as he approaches the lanky guy, who for the longest time does not even notice him.

"Um." Shinji tries. He finds himself saying that a lot, these days.

The guy's attention snaps from the foot of the lamppost to Shinji, who is steadily becoming more and more light-headed at this sudden slope of social activity.

"_Oh!" _the white-haired guy gasps and sighs at the same time. A wide, flat grin splits his face and he reaches out for the card that obviously belongs to him, before Shinji, being the graceful creature that he is, drops it on the ground again. It's an apparent case of butter-fingers, and to him, this is one of those moments that makes him want to crawl into a hole and die.

The frantic stranger doesn't seem to care, though, for as the flimsy scrap of card-stock whistles behind him in the breeze, he begins to breathe quickly as if his entire life-savings is flying away with the wind. His body whips around and he quickly bends to snatch the card, and it is at that precise moment that Shinji learns two things. One, lampposts are really, really weird, because they are in the middle of the walkway where it is most inconvenient. Two, the sound a human skull makes when it slams into a lamppost at remarkable speed is absolutely and undeniably cringe-worthy. Shinji's hands curl close to each other as he clenches his jaw and half-closes one eye.

A miniscule, choked sound is heard despite the crowd before the pale guy slides onto the ground, head still propped onto the shiny lamppost.

The crowd keeps moving around them, oblivious despite an obviously unconscious person and another who seems to be experiencing nervous convulsions. Shinji sweats profusely as he looks down at the guy in horror. He blinks, once, and then twice. His gaze then turns to the dandy sky once more.

_Why me? _he wonders to himself, before retrieving a mobile phone from his pocket.

O

He just wants to go home and make some soup.

Shinji's nails tap wordless tunes into the rough plastic armrest of his current waiting chair as he stares up at a dotted white ceiling. He's never been very fond of waiting rooms, or the color white, for that matter. They make him feel like he's alone. Which, funnily enough, he is.

Really, though, he wants to make soup. He had been looking forward to it all day, enough that he hadn't paid any attention to today's lecture. This fact is not surprising, though, as it is rather like Shinji Ikari to think of slicing carrots while he should be taking notes on the scientific world of bioengineering.

Then, he realizes something. Does he really have any obligation to stick around? Once more, he blinks at the ceiling.

The weird guy had been alone. Of course, it was the right thing to do to call for help, and Shinji (with a few exceptions) generally tries to do the right thing. After trying uselessly to coax the guy awake, Shinji had sighed and dialed for a ride, as he knew that the nearest medical facility was at least a mile away. Now that the mysterious stranger is safely being cared for, Shinji doesn't really see why he needs to stick around. He could be at home making soup right now. Nibbling at his worn lip, he contemplates the idea. Out of habit, he feels around for his phone in his pocket. After pulling it out, he stares at its clock for about 30 seconds, eyelids slowly narrowing. Then, he sniffs. What is he waiting for?

Pocketing his phone once again, he stands on two feet, heading for the automatic doors.

O

It is when he is in his quiet room, stirring a sad-looking pot of soup on a portable stove, that he remembers something possibly vital, depending on how he looks at it. His hand stills on the ladle and his lips bunch up to form a thoughtful pout.

The guy's card is still lying around on the concrete of a busy walkway somewhere along his commute home. Shinji rubs his forehead with his sleeve, smearing around condensation from the rising steam. He does not want to go back outside tonight. It's dark, for one. He doubts he would even be able to find it in the nightly black blanket. Not only that, but he's never liked the feeling of leaving his room when everything else is quiet.

In an attempt at distraction, he stirs the soup once again. Going out now would be pointless. If he's going to do anything, it's going out again tomorrow and looking for it when he can actually see. But then, he thinks that it would get tossed around in the buzzing traffic of the usual morning commute.

Shinji cranes his neck to peer at the door. Then, he turns back to his soup. What is the right thing to do, he wonders. He crinkles his nose.

A tiny bubble pops in the pot, splashing outward and grazing his hand. Shinji yelps and frantically blows on the new burn.

O

Now sporting a plaster with little orange penguins on it, Shinji tramples around the pavement. It isn't long before he reaches the third lamppost along the line, and his stomach rumbles. He sighs and searches the ground near its jet black base, and grimaces at nothing when he once again finds no laminated card.

He moves along to the next one, and again, there is nothing.

Then, another.

Another.

Finally he is at about his fourteenth lamppost when he sees something vaguely familiar shining on the ground. Filled with relief and joy, Shinji jogs to the item, picks it up, and pockets it as if it's a shiny new trophy.

O

It's morning again when Shinji bypasses the same automatic doors from yesterday. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and approaches the counter, distracting the lady behind it from her magazine.

"I brought someone in with me yesterday."

The receptionist blows a bubble of bright pink gum before it pops across her face.

"You don't say." she drawls after pulling the mass back into her mouth. Shinji blinks, mildly affronted.

"Yeah."

Behind her fiery fringe, the receptionist crinkles her eyes the slightest bit. It's like her silent way of laughing at him.

"I'm gonna need a name." she supplies, looking away from Shinji and to her computer monitor. She stares at it, and Shinji supposes it's not because she's busy, but rather because it's more comfortable than watching him juggle his words this place and that.

It then occurs rather suddenly that Shinji has no idea what the guy's name is. He stands silent for a few seconds, and the girl behind the counter turns to him once again, quirking an eyebrow.

"What's the hold-up?"

Shinji is about to confess that he doesn't know and make himself look even more heavy-headed, before he remembers the card nestled safely in his jacket pocket. Swiftly, he pulls it out, holding it close to his face to inspect what is written upon it.

"... Nagisa." Shinji murmurs.

The receptionist does not say anything as she automatically inputs the information into her keyboard. Shinji fills his cheeks with air as he waits. He notices that the gum the receptionist is chewing is a near identical shade of pink to that of her scrubs.

She clicks her tongue.

"Down that hall, to your right. Should be all clear."

Shinji nods and quietly thanks her, to which she snorts.

O

He feels like he's intruding. Shinji glares up at the door number that is only slightly higher than his face. He licks his lips. Does he just walk in? Does he knock? What does one even do in this kind of situation? His fist hovers near the door, before he drops it back to his side. Perhaps he could just slide the card under the door...

"Whoever you are, I can see your shadow from under the door. Please come in."

Shinji jolts, hunching his shoulders and pinching his eyes shut for a split second. Embarrassing...

He sighs and does as he is told, but not before pushing the door when it was meant to be pulled. The very click of his shoes feels wrong as he steps into that stiff, white room. Shinji has never liked the tint of white. Which is why it is so weird to even look at the guy sitting up on the bed in the center of the room, whose pale hair rivals even the walls.

Shinji feels like a deer caught in the headlights as the guy... Nagisa, if he remembers correctly, blinks at him once, twice, and then three times. He then looks elsewhere and runs a hand through his messy hair.

"Oh!" Shinji blurts. "Um, you were looking for this yesterday, so I went back to get it, eheh." he fishes around in his pocket. "Here you go."

Nagisa moves back slightly at the offered card, and Shinji feels like he belongs literally anywhere other than where he is at this precise moment. He always does things like this, as if he is programmed to do exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time, whether it be overstepping his boundaries or keeping quiet when he's told to speak. However, it would seem, that he is not the only person guilty of this fault.

Shinji feels the card being pulled from his hand. He prepares to duck his head in shame and leave the room, but his efforts are interrupted when he feels his hand being suddenly clamped by something. He's hardly aware of his arm being shaken. Is this what a handshake feels like? … Has he ever gotten a handshake before?

Shinji stares at the wall, catatonic.

"Thank you, you saved my life yesterday!" Nagisa beams. Shinji feels his eye twitch.

"It's just a card."

"It's a very _important _card."

"Okay."

_Okay. _Shinji mentally slaps himself in the face.

After an oddly long handshake, Shinji finally turns in an arc straight to the door. He puts his hand on its handle, sighing through his nose.

"I wish you luck, then, Nagisa. Well, with the life that I guess I saved. Yeah."

"Call me Kaworu."

"Okay." _Mental slap_.

"You too."

"Okay." _Mental slap._

"What's your name?"

"Ikari."

"Okay."

Shinji wants to laugh, but he doesn't. He turns the door knob.

"Ikari?"

"Yes?"

"You have a very cute face."

And with that, Shinji disappears in more ways than one.

O

… _**please embrace the scattering ties. Strongly, strongly, so that they will not be lost.**_

O

**AN: It's been a while since I've written anything of my own so forgive me if I'm a little rusty. This fic is heavily inspired by "Hirari, Hirari", an absolutely gorgeous Vocaloid song. Until next time.**


	2. Anterograde

p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"emstrongUnable to move from the weight of the embraced words.../strong/em/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Heh?" Shinji sputters. He faintly feels himself quirking one eyebrow, and he is definitely sure that he has taken a backward step towards the door./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu lets loose this lazy half-smile, as if he's used to doing it and it comes as second nature. Shinji crinkles his nose and takes another step back. There is a momentary, completely unsurprising bout of awkward silence. Shinji coughs. Kaworu shifts his gaze down to the sheets./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Right... okay." Shinji mutters, already leaving./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm serious, it looks squishy. You have such a baby face." Kaworu calls, as if it's going to stop the brunet from leaving./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thank you?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You're welcome."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Thoroughly exasperated, Shinji puts his hand on the door handle and pushes it downward. Soon enough the door is open, and he is stepping into the hallway./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Won't you stay a little longer?" Shinji hears, and within that same second he feels his eye twitch./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What for?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I always enjoy a pleasant conversation." Kaworu supplies, matter-of-fact. Shinji turns his head nearly completely around to deliver a tired glare. Feeling peeved and agitated, he wonders just what sort of outlandish planet Kaworu had descended from and just how much it hurt when he hit the ground./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Oblivious, the bedheaded boy bounces a little and continues to smile. Shinji wants to flick him on the forehead./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You are seriously weird." he says, shutting the door behind him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji sniffs and feels his eyes water as the lemony scent of cleaning supplies reaches his nose. He stares intently at the lady in the mint green scrubs, who continues to sing to herself as she mops the stairs. Her eyes trail up to him, and she ogles at him for a moment, before winking under her bright red glasses and flashing him a peace sign. Abruptly, he turns around, wondering if it's even normal to mop stairs. He's not sure how else one would clean them, really, but the task of doing so seems dangerous and tedious./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You're gonna be stuck up here for a while." chimes the receptionist from behind the counter, the one with the pink bubble gum. "Elevator's down, and once she gets going, she does not stop."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Okay." he mutters. His eyes shift around for a moment. In this situation, should he sit down? All he's doing is waiting for a janitor to finish cleaning the stairs, which, when he thinks about it, seems extremely silly. Shinji waddles over to a neat row of waiting chairs and slowly takes a seat. He puffs out his lip, and prepares himself for a lengthy, pointless wait./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Before long, he realizes that he's jiggling his knee along with the song the janitor lady is singing. He can't discern the words for the life of him, all he knows is that it's catchy, and that there is a "meow" thrown into the lyrics here and there. A few yards away he hears the receptionist gripe at her to 'stop the goddamn singing already', but he doesn't really notice, as he's ever-so-slowly zoning out. He always does that, he finds. Shinji feels as though he has never been one hundred percent present in a conversation, not once in his life. It's a problem, really. He should probably get around to solving it. Another day, though. Today, he's too tired. He doesn't even realize he's shutting his eyes-/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hello."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji makes a sound that is either akin to a "hwaha" or a "whoarg". His head whips to the right, and suddenly his face is far too close to another simpering one./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh my god." he screeches, standing up at the speed of light./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu blinks up at him. "What's the matter?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Do you have to sit that close?" he said, inhaling the words, making himself sound like a fish floundering in a pit of dry dirt./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji's eye twitches, and he hears the janitor on the stairs laugh. He hopes she isn't laughing at his misery, but at this point he would not be surprised if it is the case./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu shrugs. "Because I wanted to wake you up. You might hurt your neck if you fall asleep sitting down."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji has the urge to remind Kaworu that he was the one who hurt his head quite drastically after ramming it into a lamppost, but he feels that now is not exactly the time for that. In fact, he feels like now isn't really the time to say anything. Shinji merely fumes in his own, quiet way, and directs a bewildered stare at the pale guy in the chair. After a long bout of this staring, Kaworu has the nerve to give him a tiny wave of his hand./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hello?" he calls./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hi." Shinji hisses./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""How are you today?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Fantastic."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""That's nice. What's your name?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji blinks. Kaworu's smile widens. Shinji blinks again./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I already told you that."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The janitor on the stairs lilts out a meow. The receptionist behind the desk pops her bubble gum./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I must have forgotten."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji narrows his eyes, deciding not to bring up that he had told him less than twenty minutes ago. Kaworu tenses up just the slightest bit./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ikari." he says, and the way in which he does so makes it sound like he hates the feeling of it on his tongue. Shinji folds his arms, admitting to himself that he is curious as to what is going through Kaworu's head./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ikari..." Kaworu tries. "Hm. I like it." he nods, with a sudden contemplating look on his face./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji is about to reply that he, the owner of the name, is not very fond of it, when he is interrupted by a call from below./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""All done!" pipes the janitor, straining her voice so that she will be heard despite them being on separate floors./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Took you long enough!" the receptionist yells back, and in his head, Shinji cannot agree more. However, as he generally tries to be polite (tries), he refrains from saying anything and simply turns on his heel to leave./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Wait, Ikari!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji pauses but he does not turn around. He awaits the worst./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You have a really cute face!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ugh!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"All throughout his life, Shinji has been the type of guy to be gently sarcastic with everyone, including himself. He's not sure, entirely, just how one achieves gentle sarcasm, but he does it, nonetheless. All the same, he has always marveled at his truly remarkable amount of luck. He has always been the one to get splashed by mud thanks to an oncoming truck, and also the one to find a strange hair in his soup that did not come from his own head. That said, it's no surprise that he seems to have misplaced his rather expensive cell phone, exactly where, he does not know. Briefly, as he stands with his arms folded, peering around at his tiny, dissected studio apartment, he wonders where his priorities lie. There he went, tearing his living space apart in search of a simple phone. Perhaps he should have invested in a larger place to live rather than an advanced phone that gets too many weather warnings./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He stares a bit at his raggedy carpet, before rolling his shoulders, turning, and pulling a gray sweatshirt over his head. The fact remains that the phone is not in this tiny room, but elsewhere, and before he walks out the door, he pauses, glancing at himself sidelong in his orange-stained mirror that has been on that same wall since before he can remember./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Pursing his lips, he wipes a gathering of dust off his forehead with his sleeve. It's no wonder that it would appear there after unearthing everything in his possession. He looks at himself a moment longer, blinking sporadically. Bunching up his sleeves in his fists, he places both hands on his cheeks. Then, he squishes. Shinji's eyes turn into weird little half moons, and his lips morph into an oblong zig-zag. He is well aware that he still has quite a lot of baby fat on his face, but to be considered cute.../p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Well, that's preposterous./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The walkways near his decrepit building yielded no luck in Shinji's search for his cell phone. He sighs into the musky air, and realizes abruptly how cold he is. With a watering blink of his eyes, he half-sneezes, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright. As he treads along the pavement again and again, he wonders if it's worth it to be searching like this. After all, it's just a cell phone, right? There are definitely replacements for those. Yeah, he decides, he should just buy another one./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As he begins heading back to his marginally warmer little room, he has a sudden thought, stops in his tracks, and grimaces./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A new phone means he loses everything on the old one. That includes his pictures, his study material, and whatever minuscule contact information he has within it. However, Shinji is rather unsurprised to realize that those petty things mean nothing to him in comparison to what is truly important on that insanely expensive device./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Clenching a fist in comic determination and huffing in an exaggerated manner, he turns on his heel, resuming the search with recovered vigor. It is often said that valuables kept within the realm of technology are too easily lost, and that people, as a whole, take those things for granted. Once the device it gone, the information will be lost, as well./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Yes, Shinji Ikari, rather than fearing the loss of his pictures or his to-do lists, searches feverishly for his phone, if only to reclaim the mobile gaming high scores that are rightfully his./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's not long later that he makes the decision to retrace all of his steps from days already lived, as after a while he had realized that walking in circles in the terrace of his apartment complex was not accomplishing much. His lips were pursed and he gazed simultaneously at the ground and his feet, trying to find hope in the act of doing so. Of course he has considered that someone may have picked up such a flashy device and taken it as their own. In fact, he surmised, that's probably what happened./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji immediately feels like an eyesore despite there being no one nearby. What is he thinking, searching for a cell phone on a sidewalk? It's gone, finished. He blinks twice, attempting to will away any devastating heartbreak. His mind begins to rake through how much money he has in savings and how much he is willing to give. However, all the while, he feels like crying at the idea of losing his only public crutch. Shinji has never been sure how a person can sit on the bus without relying on their phone./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He groans inwardly, and his stomach churns out of hunger. Staring ahead at the orange and purple sky, he sighs. He's there awhile, doing nothing but staring. It's something that's completely unproductive, and of course that means he does it rather often./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Then, the streetlights blink to life and begin their nocturnal shift. They startle him, and his eyes flutter when he looks glances straight into the ray of one. It looks strange, he thinks, washed out yellow light with the backdrop of an orange sky. It's almost like a second sun, he muses, and then he laughs at his own logic, spinning on his heel to trek back home. His hands find his pockets, and aimlessly he stares ahead at the seemingly infinite row of streetlights./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bored in his thoughts, Shinji thinks that they look a bit like stretched out lampposts./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It takes a second before Shinji stops walking. Then, he snickers./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Nuh-uh."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji cracks a wry smile in an attempt to appear amiable, but he is certain that he feels his eyelid twitch./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No, I remember that I left it here, on that side table over there." he says, throwing a thumb over his shoulder, indicating to the magazine-laden table./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hmm." hums the receptionist with the fiery hair. Shinji is a little surprised that she works two days in a row, as she seems to do so around the clock, but at the same time is slightly disappointed that she is no longer wearing fluorescent pink scrubs. Instead, she's wearing mint green. She has a finger over her lips, as if expressing thought, and Shinji has a feeling that he is being mocked. "Nope, no phones. Trust me, I would have remembered." she supplies, simpering. She looks rather cute with her bright blue eyes, but one can tell that she is an incredibly mischievous character./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji's smile falters. He begins to feel self-conscious, wondering if he had been wrong. Then again, he thinks, it's not unlikely that someone had stolen it even from a medical waiting room, despite how incredibly conniving such a thing is./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Are you sure?" he inquires weakly, and the receptionist clicks her tongue./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sorry, but yeah."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji frowns and looks at his shoes. He fiddles with his hands, and he sighs. Once again, he reasons to himself about just how much money he is willing to give up for another phone. Lost in thought and still looking at the floor, he turns around./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's when he's about a foot away from the stairs that he thinks he hears something. It's reminiscent of when he's home alone and he hears the building creak, so although he stops for a small three seconds, he continues forward without a second thought./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Slowly, the phantom sound grows louder until it's impossible to ignore. Shinji stands upright, listening sharply. He can definitely hear something, an exciting tune from a small distance, high-pitched, rhythmic, and incredibly familiar./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Do you hear that?" he inquires, turning his head to the side to regard the receptionist. She shakes her head and flips the page of her magazine, hardly acknowledging his question. He cranes his head to listen, unknowingly wandering toward the noise. It's then that he feels the eyes of the receptionist on him, but as he follows the tune he doesn't seem to care./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's not long before he is in front of a sandy wooden door. Unsure if he is allowed to enter the room, he places his ear against the door's surface. Indeed, from within the room, he can hear what is undeniably the very ringtone programmed into his phone./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What are you doing?" pipes the girl. Shinji's head whips around, and he winces at her judging, quirked eyebrow./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Er... listening. I can hear it, my ringtone."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Can you?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes, I can."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Then go in there."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He pauses. "Am I allowed to?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Amused, she grins. "Yeah, that's just the sun room."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As means of thanks, Shinji nods, and meekly opens the door. His eyes meet a room that is eerily similar to the last one, the only exception being its lack of stairs and a desk. At first he thinks he is alone, but then he turns a corner and sighs, frowning and sleepily lowering his eyelids. What a pain./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu is lying on the sole couch in a room full of chairs, curled into a comfortable position with his sleeping face toward the door. His lips are parted to make way for his rhythmic breaths, and if Shinji didn't know any better, he'd think that they were in sync with the tune of his ringtone. Yes, his ringtone, coming from his lost cell phone, which is currently covered by Kaworu's limp hands./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sighing through his nose, Shinji pads farther into the room, sporting a lopsided frown and a nervous stomach. He feels bad for himself, really. It seems that he is always the person to become involved in situations and misunderstandings that can only be described as awkward, that can only be solved by doing something against his will. That is to say, he's rather reluctant to approach a sleeping guy in a hospital waiting room, but of course he does so with mild indifference./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji toys with the idea of gently sliding the phone out of his hands and leaving, but knows that with his marvelous luck he would only succeed in waking and irritating Kaworu. It's odd, Shinji thinks as he kneels down to eye level with the other boy. It's odd that Kaworu is still here after three days, even though the only injury he had sustained was a bump to the head. Perhaps he's homeless, Shinji surmises, and with a wan smile he proceeds to prod Kaworu on the shoulder./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey." he whispers. It is also at this time that he begins to question why this odd person has his phone in the first place. Kaworu merely hums and stretches his arms. "Hey." Shinji says louder this time, and with a twitch, Kaworu eases awake. It's alarming, just how deep of a red his eyes are in comparison to the dim room./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Huh?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji chews on his lip. At last, the tune coming from his phone stops. Kaworu blinks at him, and suddenly he wishes that he could travel back in time and just sneak away with the device rather than waking the other boy. Stuck in silence, Shinji wishes that he wasn't such an awkward person to talk to./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hello." Kaworu mumbles, rubbing his eyes with his wrist and sitting up on his knees. He yawns, covering his gaping mouth with his right hand. Shinji eyes the phone that is still clutched in his pale other hand./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What are you still doing here?" Shinji decides to ask first, standing at his full height. Mid-yawn, Kaworu blinks up at him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""There's nowhere else for me to be." he says, scratching his head. "Why?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji disregards his question. "What do you mean there's nowhere for you to be?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu stares at him with half-lidded eyes. It's then that Shinji realizes he looks like he hasn't had a decent night of sleep in a while. Despite this, the tired boy lets out a meek smile./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm not entirely sure myself." he replies, laughing under his breath. "I've only woken up for the first time, after all."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji blinks. "What?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu does not reply. Instead, he looks down at the cell phone in his left hand. Shinji follows his line of sight./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, yeah. I left that here. It's my phone. Why do you have it?" he asks, feeling a tad sheepish./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For a moment, Kaworu looks a little embarrassed. "I liked your ringtone."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji quirks an eyebrow. Nervous, he moves his hands around in his pockets. He wants to tell Kaworu that it was pretty indecent of him to just take it from the table, but he decides against it when he once again sees how tired he is. It reminds Shinji of himself a little bit, and that makes him let out a small smile. He rolls his shoulders, waiting for Kaworu to hand the phone back, but is a little befuddled at just how long it is taking for him to do so./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Unblinking, Kaworu continues to stare up at him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You have a cute face." he states, matter-of-fact./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As if by reflex, Shinji's hands fly from his pockets to his forehead. It's a little childish of him to cover his face, but still, he can't help himself. Already he can feel the tickling of his flushed cheeks./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why do you keep saying that?" he cries, rubbing at his cheeks to cool them down. "It's embarrassing! I don't even know you!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Like a bemused dog, Kaworu's head tilts to the side. He's still smiling. Shinji wonders if he ever stops smiling./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Really..." he sighs. "It's really strange."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sorry." Kaworu says, and Shinji can tell it's genuine, because his smile shrinks into a guilty one./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji just shakes his head. He holds out his hand, expecting it to be met with a phone, but is befuddled to only be met with silence./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu is looking down at the phone again. "I really did like your ringtone. It put me to sleep. What was it called, if you don't mind my asking?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Was someone calling me?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No, I just turned it on."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji frowns. " I don't know, it just came with the phone. It was the only one that sounded decent. Can I have it back now?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, yes." Kaworu says, shaking his head as if shrugging off a stupor. He places the phone in Shinji's upturned hand and stands, stretching his arms. "I'm sorry, I was distracted."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji rubs his thumb over the smudged screen of his phone. He gives his reflection within it a lopsided look, before turning back to the situation at hand./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's okay, I guess. And, uh, thanks for looking after it." At least, Shinji thinks that's what he was doing. For all he knows Kaworu was planning on stealing it./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu smiles so brightly that his eyes shut, and he shrugs. Shinji turns, making way to leave once again. Hopefully this time the staircase won't be occupied./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It was nice to meet you." Kaworu says behind him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji stops. He pockets his phone./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We already met." he says./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hm?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We already met. The day before yesterday."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji turns around, staring Kaworu in the eye, who blinks owlishly./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Did we?" he questions with a smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wonder..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We did. You were looking for your ID card on the sidewalk." Shinji takes a small step toward Kaworu, admitting that his interest is piqued. "I found it and brought it to you, but I dropped it. You reached for it and you hit your head on a pole."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu gives him a blank look for approximately six seconds, before a sudden light comes to his eyes./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, right!" his smile brightens, and he claps his hands together. "I never did thank you for that. You really helped me out there. In fact, it's because of you that I'll be able to pay this month's rent... I think."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu pauses. Shinji folds his arms./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I think..." he says again. "But has it really been three days?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""But... that was just before I had fallen asleep."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji's eyebrows draw downward in concern. "Um, no." he murmurs. He's not entirely sure how to talk to someone so confused, so he decides to only speak if indicated to do so./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu's smile fades. His eyes move around the room, before falling upon a point slightly to the left. He's looking for something to focus on that does not require an extraordinary amount of thought./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Perhaps I just need to wake up a little more." mumbles Kaworu, before regaining his usual smile./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ah, but, I never got your name."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ikari." Shinji blurts. He feels a little sick./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Alright, Ikari." Kaworu says, a smile clear in his voice. He bounces a little on his feet, linking his hands behind his back. "Thank you for what you did. I had been looking for that card for far too long. You see, the place I was supposed to go absolutely refused to let me in without some form of ID. It was irritating, really. They said I looked too young to be who I was."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji stays quiet./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""As it turns out, I had brought ID, but I could not for the life of me find it in my pocket, and I was horrified to realize that I had dropped it along the way. I had twenty minutes until I was set to perform, but..." he pursed his lips. "I ended up here somehow."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's then that Shinji is completely positive that something is not right. Still, he refrains from saying anything about the matter./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What do you mean perform?" he asks, avoiding the elephant in the room./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu's smile softens, and his face turns a little pink. "I sometimes play the piano." he supplies./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh." Shinji says, incredibly articulate. For some reason, when he looks at Kaworu, he does not find that fact surprising./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes, and it just so happens that I was to be paid quite a lot for that performance... but I seem to have missed it, haven't I?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Seems that way."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaworu shrugs. "Oh well. I'll find something else. But, I really did like your ringtone." he says. "It sort of reminded me of something."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Like what?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I can't be sure."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji gives him an odd look. It matches well, an odd look to give an odd person./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Kaworu."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"At hearing his name, Kaworu beams. Shinji swears he's like a portable sun./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Are you okay?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Like a mirror, Kaworu proceeds to give Shinji an odd look. However, it does not match quite as well, as Shinji has considered himself to be a relatively bland person thus far. It's not often that he receives estranged stares./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes. Why?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shinji narrows his eyes. It is easy to see that he is not convinced./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""... Never mind." he mumbles, slowly turning on his heel. "Well, thanks again, for looking after my phone."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, well, it was no problem, I suppose? But, I need to thank you again, for the card, that is."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Laughing under his breath, Shinji walks toward the door./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You're welcome, I guess."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Although now he knows his story, Shinji is still amused at how big of a fuss Kaworu is making over the card. After all, all Shinji had done was drop it on the ground, and, evidently, given the other boy a fairly serious head injury./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"O/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The receptionist with the mischievous blue eyes had later informed Shinji that Kaworu is suffering from temporary amnesia. It's normal, she had said, to have it for a few days after a head injury. She had assured him that everything would be fine and that life would just be confusing to the poor boy for a while./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Even so, as Shinji walks home alone in the dark, he can't help but feel a small measure of pity for the bright-haired boy. Not only that, but considering that Shinji has a decent amount of knowledge concerning the topic of amnesia, he thinks it odd that Kaworu is able to remember everything that happened until the point at which he hit his head. Isn't it usually the other way around?/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Deciding to do some research later, he sniffs, and taps his phone in his pocket. It feels nice to have his crutch again. In fact, it feels so nice, that he allows himself the tiniest fraction of a smile./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He's about five minutes away from home when he passes the usual music store. It's a lonely place, packed within a strip of vacant buildings and bicycle racks, but Shinji thinks that this has always made it look quaint and friendly./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Normally, he would walk past it without a second thought. However, it is on this particular night that he spots something reasonably interesting in its display window./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A portable keyboard piano. It's old, he can tell. Its keys are smudged with fingerprints and its surface is riddled with tiny scratches, but all the same, it looks quite nice. Not only that, but if he's reading the price tag correctly, then he knows that it is remarkably inexpensive./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Shuffling his phone around in his pocket, Shinji sighs, then he bites his lip. He had already been planning to spend a large sum of money on a new phone... and, well, Kaworu must be plenty bored and helpless, being stuck in a hospital with nothing but magazines to pass the time./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With a grimace that says he knows he'll regret what he's about to do, he steps into the store, hearing the bell on the door break the silence./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER" O/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"… emstrongI fell into a warm dream./strong/em/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"strongYou don't even want to know how many times I typed Karl instead of Kaworu completely by habit. Thank you for reading, I can hardly express how much I appreciate your kindness. :)/strong/p 


	3. Water is Wet

_**I tie it- the appearance that I embraced...**_

O

It occurs to Shinji far too late that carrying a piano, even a portable one, through a crowded street is a horrid, horrid mistake. He walks along as timidly as he can, taking minimal steps that can probably be measured in millimeters, breathing evenly in an effort to soothe his nerves. Of course, this does next to nothing, and soon he is mortified to find that his shoe is untied, and that he is holding up quite a plethora of people behind him. With a desperate, inward, sigh-like sound, he attempts to gently back into the window on his right. It doesn't work, though, for he ends up tripping over his own shoelaces and crushing his nose into said window.

He stays there for a bit, with his face plastered into a sheet of glass. Then, he slowly peels himself away, already grimacing. Of course, there is a foggy imprint of his breath on the window. Still with enough mirth left to do so, Shinji allows himself a small chuckle, finally crouching down to tie his tricky laces. He holds the piano in the concave of his collarbone, supporting it with his shoulder, quite sure that he looks ridiculous.

It's when he stands up and smacks a small child in the face with the piano that he truly experiences the urge to throw himself into the sun.

"_Ouch_!" cries the kid, immediately putting both hands to his nose. Shinji is gaping and thinking of the many ways in which he can disappear.

_Oh my god I just hit a kid in the face oh my god oh my god-_

"I'm so sorry!" he says, and to make matters worse his voice cracks at the latter point of the word 'so'. His hands dig into the piano, and it is at this time that he inhales his last calm breath of the hour. The small boy is glaring up at him in absolute malice, and in his head, Shinji blandly thinks to himself that children are evil, evil creatures. Never mind the fact that he himself had just hit one in the face.

"What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Ah, there it is. The sweet sound of impending doom.

With agonizing slowness, Shinji looks up only to find the furious face of, presumably, the kid's mother.

"Sorry?" he squeaks.

"_Sorry_ my ass! You could have broken his nose!"

"Could'a broke my nose!" the small boy repeats. His mother nods fervently.

Shinji just purses his lips and stares at the lady with petrified eyes. He's about ready to smash the piano into the concrete.

The woman huffs like a bull ready to charge. People mill around them, frustrated at their stop in the road, but also sensing the danger and avoiding the vicinity at all costs. A strange, toxic growl comes from the lady, and her son proceeds to hide behind her legs.

Abruptly, Shinji turns on his heel, repeatedly spewing apologies. Sorry seems to be the only thing that can come out of his mouth, and with tiny tears in the corners of his eyes he thinks that he is never going to show his face in public again. Never. He's running, now, he's not sure where to, all he knows is that he's still slapping people in the side with a piano and saying sorry like a broken record.

Before he has the chance to return to reality, he notices that he had stopped for breath right in front of his original destination. His hands go slack and the piano droops closer to the ground the slightest bit, and he glares pointlessly at the clinic's banner. He sniffs.

O

"I hate this thing."

Kaworu doesn't even hear him. He's too busy making strange, ecstatic sounds, ranging from squeals, screeches, and all the way to a feverish 'hhhhhh', sounding as if he is unable to breathe. He practically drapes himself over the piano, a cute smile plastered onto his face, and Shinji isn't sure whether he wants to groan and leave, or chuckle a little. In the end, he just stands with his hands at his sides.

"Is this for _me_?"

One of Shinji's eyebrows lifts. "Yes."

"Why?" Kaworu cries, his face filled with unabashed glee. He hugs the heavy instrument to his chest and Shinji is unsure of how on Earth he manages to do so without breaking something.

But... he wonders why he did it, too. A flurry of scenarios flow through Shinji's head.

'_I thought specifically of you when I saw this so I had to get it for you!'_ No, too creepy.

'_You look bored.'_ That one isn't even true.

'_It was really cheap.'_ How about no.

In the end, Shinji just mutters out a stale, "I felt like it."

He really wants to leave, now that the deed is done. However, something keeps him rooted to the spot. Shinji surmises that that something is probably social etiquette, as he knows that simply delivering a gift and leaving would not only be awkward but also rude. So, he stands there, unsure of what to do or what to say.

Kaworu is still ecstatic for a short while; however, this emotion soon morphs into an innocent bemusement.

"I see." he says, lowering the piano onto his lap. He still has his hands on it, though, and it's a little funny how he doesn't want to let the thing go. "But, why me, specifically?"

Shinji doesn't answer. There's a still silence.

"And, um, who are you?" Kaworu inquires.

A quiet sigh. Shinji shifts his eyes from Kaworu to the white tiled floor, licking his lips. He really wishes that the room could be more colorful, perhaps a lavender curtain, or even a potted plant...

"Ikari."

"Ah." Kaworu nods, sagely, as if that answers his every question. Clearly, though, it doesn't, for he still wears a hesitant simper and an awkward posture. "Well..." he starts. Then, the words seem to fall from his mind, as if he had made a decision not to say them after all. Half of his smile disappears, he's biting his lip a tad.

Shinji sighs at Kaworu's turmoil. Maybe he should leave after all.

"Do you like music, Ikari?"

"Huh?"

Kaworu tilts his head to the left. "Is music something that you enjoy?"

"Oh." Shinji takes a moment to think. He then realizes that he's not even thinking, he's just stalling for reasons he doesn't know. "Yeah, I guess. Who doesn't?" he forces out.

Kaworu runs the tip of his finger across the piano's keys. "You would be surprised."

Deciding to ignore that last bit, Shinji shrugs. "I do, but not a lot like you do. It's nice once in a while, or when I'm trying to sleep."

There's silence again. Shinji hates it, so he decides to speak up.

"Why do you ask?"

Kaworu chuckles, and it's a feathery little sound. "I'm trying to figure out why you would buy this for me. Oh, but, that's not to say I'm not grateful... now I won't have to leave home to play. What I'm wondering is, have we met before?"

Shinji hesitates, unsure of how to respond. "I found your ID, and then you hit your head." he says, taking a seat on one of the plush chairs in the room. His hands fiddle with each other nervously.

Kaworu's eyes follow the other boy. He loses his smile, perhaps in thought, and his eyebrows draw downward for a moment. Then, he lights up again.

"Oh! Yes, you with the cute face. Thank you."

Shinji twitches. He's looking at the floor again. He thinks he wants to leave, but... he cracks a smile. It's awkward and it doesn't quite fit on his face, but it grows, and his shoulders are shaking, and then he's giggling into his hand and he can't control it. Of course, he isn't quite rolling on the ground laughing, but it's long-winded, and to put it simply, Shinji is simply amused at this particular chain of events.

Kaworu still wears a small smile, and he blinks twice.

"Was something funny?"

"Yeah, _you_." he says through his laughter.

"Me?"

Shinji takes a moment to contain his chortles before clarifying. "You say that every time I come over here, without fail. It's just funny to me is all."

"Every time...?"

"Mm-hm."

"Do you come here often?"

"Ehhh... not really, but I don't know, I come here enough."

Kaworu's face can only be described as owlish. "Why do you visit the hospital so often? Are you ill?"

"No, I visit you."

"You... _visit _me?"

"Yeah."

Kaworu stares at his sheets, horribly confused. Shinji pities him.

"... Am _I _here often?"

"Only recently. Since you hit your head." he supplies. He rests his chin on his hand, supported by the arm of the chair. With interest, he watches Kaworu process everything, wondering just how he is going to resolve his amnesic jumble.

"But that was..." Kaworu murmurs. He's running his hands along the piano. "That was only very recently. Today, even."

Shinji begins to shake his head, but stops himself. He looks up at Kaworu, who doesn't look quite right without a smile. It occurs to him then that even if Shinji were to explain the situation, it would only befuddle the boy further, perhaps even upset him. Out of what he tells himself is pity, Shinji does not want that. He lets out an audible breath, and Kaworu's attention turns from nothing to him.

"Ikari-"

"You really love playing the piano, huh?"

Kaworu blinks, taken aback. His eyes are shaking the slightest bit, he swallows, and he looks down to the ebony and ivory in his lap. Once again, the anatomically correct smile finds his face.

"I really do."

Shinji stands. His shoulders are stiff, but he has a false smile. Finding the cord of the piano on the ground, he sets about plugging it in.

"Let's hear it, then."

O

"You can't _do _that, stupid!" cries the girl in fluorescent scrubs. Today, she's wearing a gentle lavender, and Shinji thinks it clashes a bit with her bouncy, ginger hair.

Blinking widely, Shinji clicks the door shut behind him. He suddenly feels very guilty, over what, he isn't sure.

The girl continues to fume. "Do you know how _loud _that was? The hell made you think that was okay? You could have woken someone or given me a headache or-" she pauses. "Or... I don't know, but it's just a bad idea, alright?"

Obediently, Shinji nods. His hands are mingling with each other.

"Sorry."

Her eyebrows draw downwards, and her face turns red. Shinji still has no idea what he's guilty of.

"She's mad because I tickled her." hisses a voice from below. With a jump, Shinji's gaze darts downward only to find the stairs-mopping custodian hiding under an end table... or rather, cleaning under it, if her tiny duster has anything to say about it. She giggles, and her eyes twinkle.

"Mari!" screeches the colorful one.

"Hehehee..."

Appearing almost demonic, 'Mari' crawls strangely out from underneath the table. How had she even fit under there? As she stands, she stretches her back, before leaning on Shinji's shoulder.

"The music put her to sleep, so I caught her when I could!"

Uncomfortable, Shinji leans away from the odd lady. It seems, he thinks, that everyone in this building is rather odd... he's not sure whether this includes himself or not.

There is a tense silence.

"Ten." the scrub-wearer growls.

Shinji purses his lips and Mari's head darts upward.

"Nine."

"Asuka!" whines Mari. Asuka, as the colorful receptionist has now been dubbed, begins to crack her knuckles.

"Eight."

"Come on, this is a place of peace! Healing! Don't kill me, or you'll just have to take care of me!"

"Seven."

Shinji begins to back away slowly.

"Six."

"I'll cover your shift. I'll never tickle you again!"

"Five."

Shinji is near the stairs now. Gingerly, quietly, he turns, padding down the familiar staircase. Despite this, he can still hear the strange girls' banter.

"Four." Asuka's voice is slowly lowering and becoming frightening.

Shinji continues on his way, listening to the now terrified, sprinting footfalls of Mari as she flees demise.

"Three, two, one!" rushes Asuka. She, too, begins to sprint, and it's only when Shinji is outside the building that he hears the unpleasant shrieks of a captured Mari.

O

Now, Shinji feels like it is his responsibility to visit Kaworu at least once every few days. It's astonishing, really, just how easily he succumbs to the idea. As he throws on a jacket for what seems like the thousandth time this season, he blames it on the fact that he is the very reason that Kaworu was hurt in the first place. Well, not really, but... somewhat.

Brushing down the rebellious part of his fringe, he checks that same orange-stained mirror he had the days previous. That delinquent piece of hair continues to act up, and so, he licks his finger a bit and tries to pin it down. No luck finds him, however, and he's stuck simply huffing and glaring at the happy, dark strand atop his head.

It's not as though he dislikes visiting the weird, pale guy. If anything, doing so is substantially entertaining, between the forgetful dork and the quirky employees of the medical facility. It's something to do.

Yet, at the same time, Shinji feels that if something so listless can be described as 'something to do', then he has no idea which way his life is heading. He's always extrinsically motivated, always waiting for the world to make his decisions for him.

So, to say the least, this is odd. This is completely independent, this is clearly by Shinji's will and nobody else's. With a simper, he thinks that this has never happened before, not that he remembers, anyway. Then, he realizes, with that same simper still lining his face, that he does, in fact, look rather cute when he smiles.

He chuckles a little, feels himself shudder, and wipes away at the pink on his cheeks with excess sleeve, diving out the door.

O

"A _piano_!"

"Uh-huh." Shinji mumbles. He is both amused and perplexed.

"For me?"

"Uh-huh."

"_Wow_!"

"I got that for you a few days back, Kaworu."

Kaworu gives him an odd look, then proceeds to press his index finger into one of the higher notes. The sound that rings out is obnoxious without anything accompanying it. He giggles, folding his hands into his lap.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, again."

There's a bout of silence. This time, Shinji realizes, it's not his fault.

"How do you know my name?" Kaworu inquires. He does not appear wary, only curious. It's funny, how patient he looks, with his hands folded into his lap and all. You'd think he'd be at a business meeting.

"Because you've told it to me." Shinji says, matter-of-fact. "And I'm Ikari."

Kaworu's eyes widen. His mouth parts, and his shoulders hunch, as if in realization. Shinji feels fluttering in his tummy, a clear symptom of hope.

"Ikari!"

"Yeah!" Shinji nods feverishly, eager to get Kaworu embedded into the healing process.

"That's a nice name."

Shinji deflates.

Kaworu, although apprehensive, soon smiles. "How did you know I played piano, Ikari?"

Shinji, too, offers a hesitant smile. He sits in the same chair he has been lately, realizing that his hands are oddly cold. Maybe he's nervous.

"You told me. When you dropped your ID to go where you were going to play. I picked it up for you, then it blew away and you hit your head."

Then again, he thinks, he's talking a lot easier than he usually does. Perhaps it has something to do with telling the same story time and time again.

"Oh, yes, I do recall that. But that was today."

"No, it wasn't. You've been here a while."

"But..."

Shinji pities him.

"Are you going to play it?"

"Hm?"

"The piano. It's nice."

"Oh."

Kaworu's eyes scan the keys. He jabs at another one, this time closer to the middle. It has a bland tone.

"It doesn't feel right to now." he says. His voice is simmered, and Shinji thinks that it's uncharacteristic of him, that it's saddening.

So used to Kaworu smiling, Shinji is uncomfortable to see him frown.

"Why? What's wrong?" he asks, almost blurting it. Now he feels awkward again, out of place. This is a conversation he has never had before, something he has never rehearsed.

At his outlandish tone, Kaworu's head bolts up to look at Shinji. He blinks his strange red eyes.

"Nothing is wrong, necessarily. I just feel odd. I'm lacking in motivation, I suppose. I feel... oddly pointless right now."

Shinji reasons that it's probably because the poor boy has been locked in a bright white room for days on end. That, he thinks, would erode anyone, even someone as bright as Kaworu.

"Do they ever let you outside- uh." Shinji realizes too late that even if they did, Kaworu wouldn't remember it. It seems that his particular case is quite nasty, as rather than forgetting anything in his life prior to his little bump, he lacks severely the ability to process new memories.

It's as if he's reliving the same thing, again and again, without even knowing it.

"I-I'll be right back." Shinji stammers, standing and jerking a thumb over his shoulder and toward the door.

Curiously and silently, Kaworu watches him leave the room.

When the door clicks shut, he prods at another piano key, this time a low one. It's nearly silent.

O

"Look." Kaworu says. Shinji pauses mid-yawn to see, opening one eye.

"Hhha?"

"I made you."

In between Kaworu's skinny fingers, there is an oblong... thing... made out of what appears to be blades of grass tied haphazardly together. Shinji quirks an eyebrow.

"What's your name again?" Kaworu asks.

"Ikari."

"It's you, Ikari. See, there are arms." he points to one blade, tied to the longest strand by the middle. "And these are the legs- er... leg." then, he gestures to a scraggly looking knot on top of his creation. "And this is your head. It even has your cowlick! It's cute just like you!"

Shinji twitches. He gets over the usual shock easily, though, and quirks an eyebrow. Kaworu Nagisa is truly one of the weirdest people he has ever met.

"... I don't even know how to respond to that." he mutters, picking grass himself and merely discarding it.

It turns out that yes, they did, indeed, let bored, able patients go outside into the courtyard. Currently they are both sitting in a patch of damp grass, doing so simply because they can. Already, Shinji can tell that Kaworu has regained much of his usual vivacity. It seems that, even though he had been unaware of it, being in solitude for so long had gotten to Kaworu eventually. Shinji contemplates asking if anyone besides him ever visited, before remembering that Kaworu would have no idea.

"Do you like to do anything but play piano?" he decides on instead, just to make artificial conversation. Again, he thinks that this is the first time he's ever had the urge to do so.

Kaworu grins at him, impish. "I like people."

"What do you mean?"

"It may sound odd, but I like to learn about people, the little things... for example, what's your favorite color?"

Shinji has no idea. He's never really had a favorite.

"... Blue." he says, not really meaning it.

"Blue." Kaworu mimics. "Blue. Why blue?"

"Because I guess it looks nice. It's calm. I like it when things are calm."

"Is this calm?" Kaworu asks.

"What do you mean?"

"This building and atmosphere. Is it calm to you?"

"It's weird, but it's not scary."

"What is scary?"

"Scary things are scary."

"Water is wet."

"Thanks."

Kaworu beams, sunny. Shinji shakes his head.

"So you mean you like asking weird questions?"

"When you say it like that..." Kaworu falters, his smile fading. "It makes me sound creepy."

Shinji is not going to deny that. However, he is going to deny that creepy is all that Kaworu is entirely. It's obvious that he's abnormally innocent, and creative, and, well, a whole lot of abstract concepts wrapped into one pallid lanky package. At Shinji's lack of denial, Kaworu grimaces.

"What do you like to do to pass the time?" is the next question Shinji is faced with. He's not sure if this is part of Kaworu's same bizarre survey, or a new topic entirely.

He thinks hard. Then, he shrugs.

"Whatever comes to mind, I guess."

"Such as?"

"I listen to a lot of music, but that's not very productive."

Kaworu's happiness level seems to skyrocket.

"Music? Do you like piano?"

"It's nice."

"I play the piano."

"Do you really?" Shinji deadpans, morbidly amused.

"I do! Perhaps I can show you sometime."

Licking his dry lips, Shinji laughs under his breath.

"Sure, I guess." he says.

It's almost disturbing how much he enjoys being more aware than another person for once in his life. The sun is beginning to set.

"Do you play anything?" Kaworu questions eagerly.

"A little cello."

"Mmh." Kaworu nods. "I will never understand how you all carry those gargantuan instruments around. You must have great strength."

"You ever try moving a piano through a crowd?"

"... No."

"Good. Because you'll hit a kid in the face."

O

The next time Shinji thinks of visiting his gangly friend, it's on a Sunday, early in the morning. He's groggy, but he's conscious, and that's all that really matters when it comes to Shinji Ikari. Birds are chirping outside, and as he sips a mug of coffee with the most unamused expression known to man, he rests his head on the sole, cool window of his minuscule room. It's doubtful that the hospital is even open. Despite this, he finishes his coffee, hardly noticing its bitter flavor or its scalding temperature.

Next, the usual jacket is over his head, and he is checking his face in the orange mirror.

Cute. Tired, but cute. He wants to punch himself in the face.

O

"These are nice." Shinji mumbles to no one in particular. Only one person is in the room with him, sitting behind the decrepit register with a piping hot cup of coffee and a great morning demeanor.

The buzz of the fridge and the fluff of the stuffed animals are rather comforting, Shinji has to admit. Perhaps he should consider working in a hospital gift shop, for the sake of being cozy.

He's poking at the spotted petal of a moderately sized bouquet of flowers. They're all of the same variety, orange, with little brown spots and a sickly white center. Lilies or something, he thinks. He doesn't really know much about flowers, just that they look nice and smell nice and are a nice gesture.

"How much are these ones?" he calls to the lady behind the counter. She turns, the dark circles under her eyes shining in the bright light of the early morning. Her hair is a dark violet.

"Twenty." she says. Her voice is surprisingly kind. She takes a sip of her coffee, shifting her attention back to wherever she had been staring before. Somewhere into the void, probably.

"Twenty?"

"Twenty."

Shinji thinks that that is a lot of money to spend on some cutesy plants that he could go outside and pick. However...

With a sigh, he digs for his poor wallet.

O

"Why am I spending so much money on-" Shinji starts, walking into Kaworu's room for what feels like the hundredth time, even though it has been less than twenty times. He pauses, though, finishing weakly.

"-you."

Kaworu is fast asleep, his face planted into a fluffy white pillow. He snores lightly, so lightly it's almost inaudible, but Shinji hears it, and he thinks he is going to tease the entertaining boy about it later. For now, though, he simply sets the flowers on the side table, and leaves the room.

O

… _**the color of orange softly scatters.**_

O

**AN: To clarify any confusion, Kaworu has a case of anterograde amnesia, which is the opposite of the type you would normally hear about (retrograde). It is when, rather than forgetting your past, you lose your ability to create new memories. I learned in my psych that there is a man who suffers this permanently, and every day, when his wife comes to visit him, he is so overjoyed to see her, and he expresses that she is the most beautiful person he has ever seen. He also remarks, at every interval, that this is the first time he has ever been awake. I thought it was interesting. Plot bunnies!**


End file.
